After a leisurely breakfast of gorgeously fluffy and tasty pancakes, we went off to the McLaren Vale. Sarah heroically took on the role of driver for the day. I had no idea what to expect as we drove down the highway. After a while there signs for the wineries and then it was as if someone had flicked the switch on different scenery and all around were vineyards, stretching out as far as you could see. Little espalliered vines spreading their branches in long rows. Not like the hillside patches I've seen in Europe, these were vast vineyards.
The system for wine tasting was quite simple. You walk in and they ask how you are today and then ask if you'd like to taste their wines. They produce a glass per person tasting and a tasting list of wines in the order in which you should try them. At Paxton, we sampled six wines and I think my favourite was one called Late Harvest. It may have been a white dessert wine, so on the sweet side. The lady behind the counter was very helpful and friendly.
We went on to the only brewery of the day: Goodieson where we tried a pale ale, a pilsner, a wheat beer, the seasonal special 'Autumn Ale', a stout and a brown ale. We liked the stout and bought six bottles. Here you had to pay $5 a person for the tasting. The beers were all fairly high alcohol content - between 4.5 and 6.5%.
Already it seemed a good idea to have something to eat and we stopped off at The Cottage bakery. It was really good. I had a wonderful focaccia with sweet potato, spinach, feta, pesto and possibly more besides. Dom had something called a kransky which turned out to be a hot dog in pastry.
Our luck took a strange turn (like the map reading...) and a couple of wineries were shut. However, we found ourselves at Shingleback which was quite busy. I stopped at ten tastings. My tongue was going furry with the red wines and I didn't think I needed to try anymore. 'Interesting' wine of the day award went to Black Bubbles Sparkling Shiraz. Yes a sparkling red wine. I decided it tasted like fizzy ribena. Sarah allowed herself a small sip and declared that she loved it. Dom kept tasting.
Our last stop was at Rosemount. Sarah and Dom had been there before but decided to re-visit for my benefit as the white wines were good. It was refreshingly quiet there after the hurly burly of the last place. I tried seven and my favourite was the Roxburgh Hunter Valley Chardonnay, although the Balmoral McLaren Vale Syrah ($75 a bottle) was pretty good as it should be. Dom kept tasting.
How do I know what I did considering the number of tastings? Notes! The in-depth jottings of a womble: "Good", "Ok", "Nice - simple & smooth", "Interesting", "More body" and so on. You could see I was getting the hang of the lingo. It was a great way to spend an afternoon. All the people behind the bars were knowledgeable, helpful, friendly and tolerant of idiots like me.
Returning home, Sarah cooked dinner and later on I listened to the online 'commentary' between two Wimbledon teams in a charity match which raised over £10,000 for two two charities. More fun than the proper game yesterday and I stayed up for the duration. I hear from a correspondent that it was quite fun to watch too.
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